to St. Gaspar Bertoni
In the name of the Father…
1 - (Leader) Dear Saint Gaspar Bertoni, you live in the glory of His Divine Majesty, the Lord you have served on earth with full abandonment to His will. You welcomed the Word of God in your meditations and studies in such a manner as to make it the lamp to your paths. You, as an apostolic missionary, dedicated to the Church all the treasures of your heart through preaching, teaching, counseling and pastoral care. You loved the children and became the apostle of the youth through the Marian oratories you founded. You cherished the institution of the family and entrusted yourself to the Holy Spouses Mary and Joseph as models of total love and availability to God and his plans.
So, now, kindly look down and see how we are living in difficulties. Violence disfigures God’s image in many of our brothers and sisters. Wild competition for only material welfare disregards the Word of God to follow personal gain. Those institutions which you gave us as agents of formation, like the family and the school, are no longer leading us. Parish communities are often divided in pursuing individualistic aims. The Oratories that you initiated do no longer operate as you intended to. Young families do not pursue the priorities of fostering life, but follow their own selfish aims.
All these needs and situations we put in front of you, dear St. Gaspar. Intercede with God for us, dear father, and give us strength to change these conditions. Teach us and help us to live in truth, justice and love.
Glory be…
R. Pray for us.
2 - (an appropriate hymn like Lord heal our land…)
(Leader) Dear Saint Gaspar Bertoni you loved the Church and honoured her in the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, in the Bishops, successors of the Apostles and in our Priests. You gave her a new religious family, the Congregation of the Stigmatine Fathers and Brothers, so that your ministry could be continued through these apostolic Missionaries. You chose to live your priestly mission in a community bound by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
Look now at the Stigmatine communities in our land and in the world. Make your sons abound in works of pastoral and missionary ministry at the service of their bishops and dioceses; and let them bear fruits of holiness and salvation.
To those who are dedicated to the preaching ministry give constancy in their spiritual and intellectual preparation through fidelity to their studies and to contemplation. Make them witnesses of the Gospel through their obedience to the Word of God, their total gift of self and chastity, their evangelical simplicity and poverty in daily life. Let them meet humble people with open hearts to welcome their ministry and to be converted to the glory of God.
To those Stigmatines who serve the Church in parishes and diocesan ministries, give the Good Shepherd’s love so that they may not serve themselves but the flock entrusted to them. Teach and help them to live their service to the Bishops with the same deep faith you showed towards them, with the same theological knowledge and competency you acquired with excellence, with a serious striving for perfection in the following of the chaste, poor, and obedient Christ as to be able to make of themselves a radical gift to God and to their brothers and sisters.
To those Stigmatines who are dedicated to educational work give love for the greatest values of human beings, so that the children and the youth formed at their schools may understand their mission in life and their vocation in the church. Let Stigmatine teachers become heralds of the pre-eminent knowledge of Christ while imparting the values of human culture. May their way of life witness to that ultimate wisdom, the holy fear of the Lord.
To all the living Stigmatines, give the courage to trust fully in God with a humble surrender of faith and love, whatever circumstances of life they might find themselves in, both in joyful and sorrowful days.
O loving God, through the intercession of our father St Gaspar, grant to the departed Brothers, Priests and Bishops of the Congregation, the joyful vision of your countenance as they form your glory and your crown for ever in heaven.
This we ask in supplication of gratitude and abandonment.
(an appropriate hymn, to the Holy Spouses)
3 - Dear St. Gaspar Bertoni, we now would like to look at you as the image of the crucified Lord. You have carried in your body the passion of Christ. You have embraced your cross with nuptial abandonment into God’s hands. You let the physicians treat your body with extremely painful surgeries without complaining, and asked for more sufferings in your desire to imitate your suffering Jesus. You have learned, through the offering of the Holy Eucharist, to let your body be broken and your blood be shed for the building up of the Church. You have so fixed your eyes of faith upon the Heart of Jesus, pierced for our sins, as to give up any other interest. In your apostolic charism you have blended the St Francis’ spirit through a rigorous and joyful poverty, with St Benedict’s spirit in practicing study and working hard, and with St Ignatius’ spirit in your generous and humble service to the Bishops and the Church.
We beg you, make us diligent pupils at the school of God by accepting our sufferings and trials of life.
R. Pray for us.
(an appropriate hymn)
4 - Dear St. Gaspar, we address to you a particular supplication for the sick and those who bear in their body the wounds of the suffering and dying Christ. You took care of their needs in the hospitals; now you take and receive their sufferings and offer them, as a love offering, to the Heart of Jesus in reparation for sins. If possible, ask God to take away the bitter cup of our sufferings, but only if this is in accord with the will of the Father.
You teach us that suffering is not only of the body, but mostly in the spirit. So we recommend to you first of all the migrant workers. You, who were a foreigner in your own native land, console our migrants in their loneliness, be the companion in their journeys and comfort their families.
Finally, dear St. Gaspar, listen to our prayer for the victims of violence and injustice. Look at the innocent sufferings of children, the victims of abuse, the victims of unjust indictment and condemnation. You have been for such victims an angel of comfort. See how many fall under the scourge of illegal drugs, eroticism and self-inflicted violence. See the stains of brotherly blood caused by civil strife and wars. Give us back the joy of fraternal reconciliation and peace.
Glory be…
R. Pray for us.
(an appropriate hymn like Whatsoever you do for the least…)
5 - St. Gaspar we appreciate your example of holiness; we cherish your friendly intercession and we trust in your strong protection. You were powerful in the eyes of the triune God, you were an intimate friend of the Sacred Heart, you were a dear child in the family of the Holy Spouses Mary and Joseph. You now live finally in the glorious wounds of Christ where you hope to find us always. Receive our supplication and present it, enriched with your merits and the merits of all the saintly Stigmatines, to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory, honour, praise and thanksgiving now and forever.
Glory be…
R. Pray for us.
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
St. Gaspar Bertoni, pray for us
St. Gaspar Bertoni, apostolic missionary
St. Gaspar Bertoni, icon of the crucifix
St. Gaspar Bertoni, faithful echo of the Word of God
St. Gaspar Bertoni, devoted to the Holy Eucharist
St. Gaspar Bertoni, trustworthy administrator of the gifts of the Spirit
St. Gaspar Bertoni, model of the Holy Abandonment
St. Gaspar Bertoni, herald of the spiritual nuptials with Christ
St. Gaspar Bertoni, hidden treasure of the Veronese clergy
St. Gaspar Bertoni, friend of children
St. Gaspar Bertoni, refuge of the abandoned
St. Gaspar Bertoni, leader of the youth
St. Gaspar Bertoni, educator and school teacher
St. Gaspar Bertoni, protector of the poor
St. Gaspar Bertoni, formator of seminarians and young religious
St. Gaspar Bertoni, defender of priestly dignity
St. Gaspar Bertoni, builder of Christian communities and churches
St. Gaspar Bertoni, intimate friend of the Heart of Jesus
St. Gaspar Bertoni, lover of the Holy Spouses Mary and Joseph
St. Gaspar Bertoni, father of the Stigmatine family
St. Gaspar Bertoni, living rule of holiness
St. Gaspar Bertoni, diligent disciple at the school of suffering
St. Gaspar Bertoni, servant of the Bishops
St. Gaspar Bertoni, consolation of the Pope
St. Gaspar Bertoni, healing balm to the sick
St. Gaspar Bertoni, brave soldier of Christ
St. Gaspar Bertoni, joyful and cheerful until old age
St. Gaspar Bertoni, model of patience in sickness and sufferings
St. Gaspar Bertoni, courageous and grateful under your crosses
St. Gaspar Bertoni, always dwelling in the most precious wounds of Christ
St. Gaspar Bertoni, noble fruit of the Lord’s passion and resurrection
Lamb of God…
Let us pray:
Father, you inspired your servant and priest, Gaspar Bertoni, to dedicate himself to the service of the Church, living and preaching the sufferings of Christ. Grant that, following his example, we may be faithful workers in your vineyard and heralds of your word. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.